Ahead of bandh call, police detain JKNPP head, leaders

Our Correspondent

Jammu, December 6

Ahead of the Jammu bandh call given by the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP) for Saturday, the police on Friday detained the party chairman Harsh Dev Singh and other senior leaders for allegedly asking people to close their shops tomorrow.

Singh was detained along with party leaders, including state president Balwant Singh Mankotia by the police at the Pacca Danga police station in Jammu for mobilising people for Jammu Bandh, while the party alleged that the chairman hadbeen assaulted in police custody.

The party patron Professor Bhim Singh demanded that the erring policemen should be taken to task at least during the President’s Rule in Jammu & Kashmir when Fundamental Rights were available to all Indian citizens after the revocation of Article 35A by the President.

He said several senior leaders had been locked in the Pacca Danga police station, Jammu, and in this regard Prof Bhim Singh had already submitted a letter to the President, condemning the detention of the Panthers Party political activists this afternoon.

However, SSP, Jammu, Tejinder Singh, said, “They were mobilising people for the Jammu bandh tomorrow forcefully and they were detained as they could not be allowed to force people to shut their shops.”

The officer, however, denied any assault on the party chairman in police detention and said he had been released.

Meanwhile, party workers staged a dharna outside the Pacca Danga police station and condemned the detention of the party chairman and other leaders. They also raised slogans against the BJP for its alleged dictatorship.

The Panthers Party (JKNPP) called for the Jammu bandh on December 7 to protest the suspension of the mobile Internet services following the abrogation of Article 370 provisions and against the setting up of the toll plaza at Saroreon the Jammu-Pathankot national highway.